Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $58.50.

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on SW shares. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $62.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Smurfit Westrock from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $44.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Down 0.9%

NYSE:SW opened at $42.38 on Friday. Smurfit Westrock has a 12 month low of $37.01 and a 12 month high of $56.99. The firm has a market cap of $22.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.74 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company’s 50 day moving average is $42.83 and its 200-day moving average is $48.00.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.08. Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 1.98% and a return on equity of 7.38%. The company had revenue of $7.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.41 billion. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 161.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a dividend of $0.4308 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. This represents a yield of 3.7%. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 140.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Smurfit Westrock news, Director Irial Finan acquired 15,180 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $39.21 per share, for a total transaction of $595,207.80. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 54,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,152,354.53. This trade represents a 38.22% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Tsfg LLC acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

About Smurfit Westrock

Smurfit Westrock Plc, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, distributes, and sells containerboard, corrugated containers, and other paper-based packaging products in Ireland and internationally. The company produces containerboard that it converts into corrugated containers or sells to third parties, as well as produces other types of paper, such as consumer packaging board, sack paper, graphic paper, solid board and graphic board, and other paper-based packaging products, such as consumer packaging, solid board packaging, paper sacks, and other packaging products, including bag-in-box.